2075 



0^ THE 



MORAL DIGNITY 



OF THE 

MISSIONARY ENTERPB " _ 




Friated hf Junes Loring. 



The Moral Dignity of the Missionary 
Enterprise. 

A 

SERMON 

DELIVERED BEFORE 

She Boston i3aj»ttst iForetgn 38t'sston Society 

on the Evening of October 26, 

AND BEFORE 

£he Salem Bible translation Society 

on the Evening of Nov. 4, 1823. 




By F. WAYLAND, jun. 



PASTOR OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHIRCH IN BOSTON. 



PUBLISHED BY REftCEST. 



77 

BOSTON' : 

JAMES LOR1NG, 2 CORNHILL. 

1824. 




Arte 



SERMON. 



Matthew xiii. 38. 

THE FIELD IS THE WORLD. 

Philosophers have speculated much concerning 
a process of sensation, which has commonly been 
denominated the emotion of sublimity. Aware 
that, like any other simple feeling, it must be inca- 
pable of definition, they have seldom attempted to 
define it ; but, content with remarking the occasions 
on which it is excited, have told us that it arises 
in general from the contemplation of whatever 
is vast in nature, splendid in intellect, or lofty 
in morals. Or, to express the same idea somewhat 
varied, in the language of a critic of antiquity,* 
" that alone is truly sublime of which the concep- 
tion is vast, the effect irresistible, and the remem- 
brance scarcely if ever to be erased." 

But although philosophers alone have written 
about this emotion, they arc far from being the only 

• Longinui, Sec. VII. 



4 



men who have felt it. The untutored peasant, 
when he has seen the autumnal tempest collecting 
between the hills, and as it advanced, enveloping 
in misty obscurity, village and hamlet, forest and 
meadow, has tasted the sublime in all its reality ; 
and whilst the thunder has rolled and the lightning 
flashed around him, has exulted in the view of 
nature moving forth in her majesty. The untaught 
sailor boy, listlessly hearkening to the idle ripple 
of the midnight wave, when on a sudden he has 
thought upon the unfathomable abyss beneath him 
and the wide waste of waters around him and the 
infinite expanse above him, has enjoyed to the full 
the emotion of sublimity, whilst his inmost soul 
has trembled at the vastness of its own conceptions. 
But why need I multiply illustrations from nature ? 
Who does not recollect the emotion he has felt 
whilst surveying aught in the material world of 
terror or of vastness. 

And this sensation is not produced by grandeur 
in material objects alone. It is also excited on 
most of those occasions in which we see man task- 
ing to the uttermost, the energies of his intellectual 
or moral nature. Through the long lapse of cen- 
turies, who without emotion has read of Leonidas 
and his three hundred's throwing themselves as a 
barrier before the myriads of Xerxes, and contend- 
ing unto death for the liberties of Greece. 



5 

But we need not turn to classic story to find all 
that is great in human action ; we find it in our 
own times and in the history of our own country. 
Who is there of us that even in the nursery has not 
felt his spirit stir within him, when with childlike 
wonder he has listened to the story of Washing- 
ton ? And although the terms of the narrative 
were scarcely intelligible, yet the young soul kin- 
dled at the thought of one man's working out the 
deliverance of a nation. And as our understanding, 
strengthened by age, was at last able to grasp the 
detail of this transaction, we saw that our infantile 
conceptions had fallen far short of its grandeur. 
if an American citizen ever exults in the contem- 
plation of all that is sublime in human enterprise, it 
is when, bringing to mind the men who first conceiv- 
ed the idea of this nation's independence, he beholds 
them estimating the power of her oppressor, the 
resources of her citizens, deciding in their collected 
might that this nation should be free, and through 
the long years of trial that ensued, never blenching 
from their purpose, but freely redeeming the pledge 
they had given to consecrate to it " their lives, their 
fortunes, and their sacred honor." 

" Patriots have toiled, and in their country's cause 
Bled nobly, and their deeds as they deserve 
Receive proud recompense. We give in charge 
Their names to the sweet lyre. The historic muse, 



6 



Proud of her treasure, marches with it down 
To latest times; and sculpture in her turn 
Gives bond, in stone and ever-during brass, 
To guard them and immortalize her trust. 1 ' 

It is not in the field of patriotism alone that 
deeds have been achieved to which history has 
awarded the palm of moral sublimity. There have 
lived men, in whom the name of patriot has been 
merged in that of philanthropist ; who, looking 
with an eye of compassion over the face of the 
earth, have felt for the miseries of our race, and 
have put forth their calm might to wipe off one 
blot from the marred and stained escutcheon of 
human nature, to strike off one form of suffering 
from the catalogue of human wo. Such a man 
was Howard. Surveying our world like a spirit 
of the blessed, he beheld the misery of the captive, 
he heard the groaning of the prisoner. His deter- 
mination was fixed. He resolved single handed 
to guage and to measure one form of unpitied, un- 
heeded wretchedness, and, bringing it out to the 
sunshine of public observation, to work its utter 
extermination. And he well knew what this under- 
taking would cost him. He knew what he had to 
hazard from the infection of dungeons, to endure 
from the fatigues of inhospitable travel, and to 
brook from the insolence of legalized oppression. 
He knew that he was devoting himself upon the 



? 

altar of philanthropy, and he willingly devoted 
himself. He had marked out his destiny, and he 
hastened forward to its accomplishment, with an 
intensity " which the nature of the human mind 
forbade to be more, and the character of the indi- 
vidual forbade to be less."* Thus he commenced 
a new era in the history of benevolence. And 
hence the name of Howard will be associated with 
all that is sublime in mercy, until the final consum- 
mation of all things. 

Such a man is Clarkson, Who, looking abroad, 
beheld the sufferings of Africa, and looking at 
home, beheld his country stained with her blood. 
We have seen him, laying aside the vestments of 
the priesthood, consecrate himself to the holy pur- 
pose of rescuing a continent from rapine and mur- 
der, and of erasing this one sin from the book of 
his nation's iniquities. We have seen him and his 
fellow philanthropists for twenty years never waver 
from their purpose. We have seen them persevere 
amidst neglect and obloquy, and contempt and 
persecution, until the cry of the oppressed having 
roused the sensibilities of the nation, the " island 
empress" rose in her might, and said to this foul 
traffic in human flesh, Thus far shalt thou go and 
no farther. 

It will not be doubted that in such actions as 



• Fojiec'i Emy. 



8 

these, there is much which may truly be called the 
moral sublime. If, then, we should attentively 
consider them, we might perhaps ascertain what 
must be the elements of that enterprise, which may 
lay claim to this high appellation. It cannot be 
expected that on this occasion we should analyze 
them critically. It will, however, we think be 
found, upon examination, that to that enterprise 
alone has been awarded the meed of sublimity, of 
which the conception was vast, the execution 
arduous, and the means to be employed simple but 
efficient. Were not the object vast, it could not 
arrest our attention. Were not its accomplishment 
arduous, none of the nobler energies of man being 
tasked in its execution, we should see nothing to 
admire. Were not the means to that accomplish- 
ment simple, our whole conception being vague, the 
impression would be feeble ; were they not effici- 
ent, the intensest exertion could only terminate in 
failure and disgrace. 

And here we may remark, that wherever these 
elements have combined in any undertaking, pub- 
lic sentiment has generally united in pronouncing 
it sublime, and history has recorded its achieve- 
ments among the noblest proofs of the dignity of 
man. Malice may for a while have frowned, and 
interest opposed ; men who could neither grasp 
what was vast, nor feel what was morally great, 



9 

may have ridiculed. But all this has soon passed 
away. Human nature is not to be changed by the 
opposition of interest or the laugh of folly. There 
is still enough of dignity in man to respect what is 
great, and to venerate what is benevolent. The 
cause of man has at last gained the suffrages of 
man. It has advanced steadily onward, and left 
ridicule to wonder at the impotence of its shaft, 
and malice to weep over the inefficacy of its hate. 

And we bless God that it is so. It is cheering 
to observe, that amidst so much that is debasing, 
there is still something ennobling in the character 
of man. It is delightful to know that there are 
times when his morally bedimmed eye " beams 
keen with honor that there is yet a redeeming 
spirit within him, which exults in enterprises of 
great pith and moment. We" love our race the bet- 
ter for every such fact we discover concerning it, 
and bow with more reverence to the dignity of hu- 
man nature. We rejoice that, shattered as has 
been the edifice, there yet may be discovered now 
and then a massive pillar, and here and there a well 
turned arch, which remind us of the symmetry of 
its former proportions, and the perfection of its 
original structure. 

Having paid this our honest tribute to the dig- 
nity of man, we must pause, and shed a tear 
over somewhat which reminds us of any thing 

2 



10 



other than his dignity. Whilst the general asser- 
tion is true, that he is awake to all that is sublime 
in nature, and much that is sublime in morals, 
there is reason to believe that there is a single class 
of objects, whose contemplation thrills all heaven 
with rapture, at which he can gaze unmelted and 
unmoved. The pen of inspiration has recorded, 
that the cross of Christ, whose mysteries the an- 
gels desire to look into, was to the tasteful and 
erudite Greeks, foolishness. And we fear that 
cases very analogous to this may be witnessed at 
the present day. But why, my hearers, should it 
be so ? Why should so vast a dissimilarity of 
moral taste exist between seraphs who bow before 
the throne, and men who worship from the foot- 
stool ? Why is it that the man, whose soul swells 
with ecstasy whilst viewing the innumerable suns 
of midnight, feels no emotion of sublimity when 
thinking of their Creator? Why is it that an 
enterprise of patriotism presents itself to his imagi- 
nation beaming with celestial beauty, whilst the en- 
terprise of redeeming love is without form or come- 
liness ? Why should the noblest undertaking of 
mercy, if it only combine among its essential ele- 
ments the distinctive principles of the gospel, be- 
come at once stale, flat, and unprofitable ? When 
there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repent- 
eth, why is it that the enterprise of proclaiming 



11 



peace on earth, and good will to man, fraught, as it 
would seem, with more than angelic benignity, 
should to many of our fellow citizens appear wor- 
thy of nothing better than neglect or obloquy ? 

The reason for all this we shall not on this oc- 
casion pretend to assign. We have only room to 
express our regret that such should be the fact. 
Confining ourselves therefore to the bearing which 
this moral bias has upon the missionary cause, it 
is with pain we are obliged to believe, that there 
is a large and most respectable portion of our fel- 
low citizens, for many of whom we entertain every 
sentiment of personal esteem, and to whose opinions 
on most other subjects we bow with unfeigned def- 
erence, who look with perfect apathy upon the pres- 
ent system of exertious for evangelizing the hea- 
then ; and we have been greatly misinformed, if 
there be not another, though a very different class, 
who consider these exertions a subject for ridicule. 
Perhaps it may tend somewhat to arouse the apathy 
of the one party, as well as moderate the contempt 
of the other, if we can show that this very mis- 
sionary cause combines within itself the elements 
of all that is sublime in human purpose, nay, com- 
bines them in a loftier perfection than any other 
enterprise, which was ever linked with the desti- 
nies of man. To show this will be our design : 
and in prosecuting it, we shall direct your at- 



12 

tention to the grandeur of the object ; the ardu- 
ousness of its execution ; and the nature of the 
means on which we rely for success. 

1st. The grandeur of the object. In the 
most enlarged sense of the terms, The Field is the 
World. Our design is radically to affect the tem- 
poral and eternal interests of the whole race of 
man. We have surveyed this field statistically, 
and find, that of the eight hundred millions who 
inhabit our globe, but two hundred millions have 
any knowledge of the religion of Jesus Christ. 
Of these, we are willing to allow that but one half 
will render us any assistance, and that therefore 
there are seven of the eight hundred millions to 
whom the gospel must be sent. 

We have surveyed this field geographically. 
We have looked upon our own continent, and have 
seen that, with the exception of a narrow strip of 
thinly settled country, from the gulf of St. Law- 
rence to the mouth of the Missisippi, the whole of 
this new world lieth in wickedness. Hordes of 
ruthless savages roam the wilderness of the West, 
and men almost as ignorant of the spirit of the gos^ 
pel, are struggling for independence in the South. 

We have looked over Europe, and behold there 
one nation putting forth her energies in the cause of 
evangelizing the world. We have looked for 
another such nation ; but it is not to be found. A 



13 



few others are beginning to awake. Most of them, 
however, yet slumber. Many are themselves in 
need of missionaries. Nay, we know not but the 
movement of the cause of man in Europe is at 
present retrograde. There seems too evidently a 
coalition formed of the powers that be, to check the 
progress of moral and intellectual improvement, 
and to rivet again on the human mind the mana- 
cles of papal superstition. God only knows how 
soon the re-action will commence, which shall 
shake the continent to its centre, scatter thrones and 
sceptres and all the insignia of prescriptive author- 
ity, like the dust of the summer's threshing floor, 
and establish throughout the Christian world rep- 
resentative governments, on the broad basis of com- 
mon sense and inalienable rieht. 

We have looked over Africa, and have seen that 
upon one little portion, reclaimed from brutal idol- 
atry by missionaries, the Sun of Righteousness has 
shined. It is a land of Goshen, where they have 
light in their dwellings. Upon all the remainder 
of this vast continent, there broods a moral dark- 
ness, impervious as that which once veiled her 
own Egypt, on that prolonged and fearful night 
when no man knew his brother. 

We have looked upon Asia, and have seen its 
northern nations, though under the government of 
a Christian prince, scarcely nominally Christian, 



14 



On the West, it is spell-bound by Mahometan 
delusion. To the South, from the Persian gulf, to 
the sea of Kamschatka, including also its number- 
less islands, except where here and there, a Syri- 
an church, or a missionary station twinkles amidst 
the gloom ; the whole of this immense portion of the 
human race is sitting in the region and shadow of 
death. Such then is the field for our exertion. 
It encircles the whole family of man, it includes ev- 
ery unevangelized being of the species to which 
we belong. We have thus surveyed the mission- 
ary field, that we may know how great is the un- 
dertaking to which we stand committed. 

We have also made an estimate of the miseries 
of this world. We have seen how in many places 
the human mind, shackled by ignorance and en- 
feebled by vice, has dwindled almost to the stand- 
ard of a brute. Our 'indignation has kindled at 
hearing of men immortal as ourselves, bowing 
down and worshipping a wandering beggar, or 
paying adoration to reptiles and to stones. 

Not only is intellect every where under the 
dominion of idolatry prostrated. We have look- 
ed beyond the boundaries of Christendom, aud 
seen that on every side the dark places of the earth 
are filled with the habitations of cruelty. We 
have mourned over the savage ferocity of the In- 
dians of our western wilderness. We have turned 



15 



to Africa, and seen almost the whole continent a prey 
to lawless banditti, or else bowing down to the most 
revolting idolatry. We have descended along her 
coast, and beheld villages burnt or depopulated, 
fields laid waste, and her people who have escap- 
ed destruction, naked, and famishing, flee to their 
forests at the sight of a stranger. We have asked, 
what fearful visitation of Heaven has laid these set- 
tlements in ruins? What destroying pestilence has 
swept over this land, consigning to oblivion almost 
its entire population? What mean the smoking 
ruins of so many habitations? And why is yon 
fresh sod crimsoned and slippery with the traces of 
recent murder ? We have been pointed to the 
dark slave-ship hovering over her coast, and have 
been told that two hundred thousand defenceless 
beings are annually stolen away, to be murdered 
on their passage, or consigned for life to a captiv- 
ity more terrible than death. 

We have turned to Asia, and beheld how the 
demon of her idolatry has worse than debased, has 
brutalized the mind of man. Every where his 
despotism has been grievous ; here, with merci- 
less tyranny, he has exulted in the misery of his 
victims. He has rent from the human bosom all 
that was endearing in the charities of life. He has 
taught the mother to tear away the infant as it 
smiled in her bosom, and cast it, the shrieking 



16 



prey, to contending alligators. He has taught 
the son to light the funeral pile, and to witness un- 
moved, the dying agonies of his widowed, mur- 
dered mother. 

We have looked upon all this ; and our object 
is, to purify these abominations from the face of the 
whole earth. Our object will not have been ac- 
complished till the tomahawk shall be buried for- 
ever, and the tree of peace spread its broad branch- 
es from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; until a thou- 
sand smiling villages shall be reflected from the 
waves of the Missouri, and the distant vallies of 
the West echo with the song of the reaper ; till the 
wilderness and the solitary place shall have been 
glad for us, and the desert has rejoiced and blos- 
somed as the rose. 

Our labours are not to cease, until the last slave- 
ship shall have visited the coast of Africa, and the 
nations of Europe and America, having long since 
redressed her aggravated wrongs, Ethiopia, from 
the Mediterranean to the Cape, shall have stretch- 
ed forth her hand unto God. 

How changed will then be the face of Asia! 
Bramins and sooders and casts and shasters will 
have passed away, like the mist which rolls up the 
mountain's side before the rising glories of a sum- 
mer's morning, while the land on which it rested, 
shining forth in all its loveliness, shall, from its 



17 



numberless habitations, send forth the high praises 
of God and the Lamb. The Hindoo mother will 
gaze upon her infant with the same tenderness 
which throbs in the breast of any one of you who 
now hears me, and the Hindoo son will pour into 
the wounded bosom of his widowed parent, the oil 
of peace and consolation. 

In a word, point us to the loveliest village that 
smiles upon a Scottish or New-England landscape, 
and compare it with the filthiness and brutality of 
a Caffrarian kraal, and we tell you that our object 
is to render that Caffrarian kraal as happy and as 
gladsome as that Scottish or New-England vil- 
lage. Point us to the spot on the face of the earth, 
where liberty is best understood and most perfectly 
enjoyed, where intellect shoots forth in its richest 
luxuriance, and where all the kindlier feelings of 
the heart are constantly seen in their most grace- 
ful exercise ; point us to the loveliest and happiest 
neighbourhood in the world, on which we dwell ; 
and we tell you that our object is to render this 
whole earth, with all its nations and kindreds and 
tongues and people, as happy, nay, happier than 
that neighborhood. 

We have considered these beings as immortal, 
and candidates for an eternity of happiness or 
misery. And we cannot avoid the belief that they 
are exposed to eternal misery. Here you will 
3 



IS 



observe the question with us is not, whether a 
heathen unlearned in the gospel can be saved. 
We are willing to admit that he may. But if he 
be saved, he must possess holiness of heart ; for 
without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. And 
where shall we find holy heathen ? Where is there 
the vestige of purity of heart among unevangelized 
nations ? It is in vain to talk about the innocence 
of these children of nature. It is in vain to tell us 
of their graceful mythology. Their gods are such 
as lust makes welcome. Of their very religious 
services, it is a shame even to speak. To settle 
the question concerning their future destiny, it 
would only seem necessary to ask, What would be 
the character of that future state, in which those 
principles of heart which the whole history of the 
heathen world develops, were suffered to operate 
in their unrestrained malignity ? 

No ! solemn as is the thought, we do believe, 
that dying in their present state, they will be ex- 
posed to all that is awful in the wrath of Almighty 
God. And we do believe that (rod so loved the 
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but 
have everlasting life. Our object is to convey to 
those who are perishing the news of this salvation. 
It is to furnish every family upon the face of the 
whole earth with the word of God written in its 



19 



own language, and to send to every neighbourhood 
a preacher of the cross of Christ. Our object will 
not be accomplished until every idol temple shall 
have been utterly abolished, and a temple to Jeho- 
vah erected in its room ; until this earth, instead of 
being a theatre on which immortal beings are pre- 
paring by crime for eternal condemnation, shall 
become one universal temple, in which the chil- 
dren of men are learning the anthems of the bless- 
ed above, and becoming meet to join the general 
assembly and church of the first born, whose names 
are written in heaven. Our design will not be 
completed until 

" One song employs all nations, and all cry 
Worthy the Lamb, for he was slain for us ; 
The dwellers in the vales, and on the rocks 
Shout to each other, and the mountain tops 
From distant mountains catch the flying joy ; 
Till nation after nation, taught the strain, 
Earth rolls the rapturous hosanna round." 

The object of the missionary enterprise embraces 
every child of Adam. It is as vast as the race to 
whom its operations are of necessity limited. It 
would confer upon every individual on earth, all 
that intellectual or moral cultivation can bestow. 
It would rescue a world from the indignation and 
wrath, tribulation and anguish reserved for every 
eon of man that doeth evil, and give it a title to glory, 



20 

honor, and immortality. Yon see, then, that our 
object is not only to affect every individual of the 
species, but to affect him in the dire extremes of 
infinite happiness and infinite wo. And now we 
ask, What object ever undertaken by man can 
compare with this same design of evangelizing the 
world ? Patriotism itself fades away before it, and 
acknowledges the supremacy of an enterprise, 
which seizes with so strong a grasp upon both the 
temporal and eternal destinies of the whole family 
of man. 

But all this is not to be accomplished without 
laborious exertion. Hence we remark, 

2d. The missionary undertaking is arduous 

ENOUGH TO CALL INTO ACTION THE NOBLEST EN- 
ERGIES OF MAN. 

Its arduousness is explained in one word, our 
Field is the World. Our object is to effect an 
entire moral revolution in the whole human race. 
Its arduousness then results of necessity from its 
magnitude. 

I need not say to an audience acquainted with 
the nature of the human mind, that a large moral 
mass is not easily and permanently affected. A 
little leaven does not soon leaven the whole lump. 
To produce a change even of speculative opinion 
upon a single nation, is an undertaking not easily 
accomplished. In the case before us, not a nation 



21 



but a world is to be regenerated: therefore the 
change which we would effect is far from being 
merely speculative. If any man be in Christ, he is a 
new creature. Nothing short of this new creation 
will answer our purpose. We go forth not to per- 
suade men to turn from one idol to another, but to 
turn universally from idols to serve the living God. 
We call upon those who are earthly, sensual, devil- 
ish, to set their affections on things above. We go 
forth exhorting men to forsake every cherished lust, 
and present themselves a living sacrifice, holy and 
acceptable unto God. And this mighty moral rev- 
olution is to be effected not in a family, a tribe, or a 
nation, but in a world which lieth in wickedness. 

We have to operate upon a race divided into 
different nations, speaking a thousand different 
languages, under every different form of government 
from absolute inertness to unbridled tyranny, and 
inhabiting every district of country, salubrious or 
deadly, from the equator to the poles. To all 
these nations must the gospel be sent, into all these 
languages must the Bible be translated, to all these 
climes, salubrious or deadly, must the missionary 
penetrate, and under all these forms of government, 
mild or despotic, must he preach Christ and him 
crucified. 

Besides, we shall frequently interfere with the 
more sordid interests of men ; and we expect them 



22 



to increase the difficulties of our undertaking. If 
we can turn the heathen to God, many a source of 
unholy traffick will he dried up, and many a con- 
venience of unhallowed gratification taken away. 
And hence we may expect that the traffickers in 
human flesh, the disciples of mammon, and the 
devotees of pleasure, will be against us. From the 
heathen themselves we have the blackest darkness 
of ignorance to dispel. We have to assault systems 
venerable for their antiquity, and interwoven with 
every thing that is proud in a nation's history. 
Above all, we have to oppose the depravity of the 
human heart, grown still more inveterate by ages 
of continuance in unrestrained iniquity. In a word, 
we go forth to urge upon a world dead in trespasses 
and sins, a thorough renewal of heart, and an 
universal reformation of practice. 

Brief as is this view of the difficulties which sur- 
round us, and time will not allow us to state them 
more in detail, you see that our undertaking is, as 
we said, arduous enough to task to the uttermost 
the noblest energies of man. 

This enterprise requires consummate wisdom in 
the missionary who goes abroad, as well as in those 
who manage the concerns of a society at home. 
He who goes forth unprotected, to preach Christ 
to despotic or badly governed nations, must be 
wise as a serpent, and harmless as a dove. With 



23 



undeviating firmness upon every thing essential, he 
must combine the most yielding facility upon all 
that is unimportant. And thus whilst he goes 
forth " in the spirit and power of Elias," he must 
at the same time " become all things to all men, 
that by all means he may gain some." Great abil- 
ities are also required in him who conducts the 
mission at home. He must awaken, animate, and 
direct the sentiments of a very large portion of the 
community in which he resides, whilst at the same 
time, through a hundred different agents, he is 
exerting a powerful influence upon half as many 
nations a thousand or ten thousand miles off. 
Indeed it is hazarding nothing to predict, that if 
efforts for the extension of the gospel continue to 
multiply with their present ratio of increase, as 
great abilities will in a few years be required for 
transacting the business of a missionary society, 
as for conducting the affairs of a political cabinet. 

The missionary undertaking calls for persever- 
ance ; a perseverance of that character, which, hav- 
ing once formed its purpose, never wavers from it 
till death. And if ever this attribute has been so 
exhibited as to challenge the respect of every man 
of feeling, it has been in such instances as are 
recorded in the history of the mission to Greenland 
and to the South Sea Islands, where we beheld men 
for fifteen or twenty years suffer every thing but 



24 



martyrdom, and then, seeing no fruit from their 
labor, resolve to labor on till death, if so be they 
might at last save one benighted heathen from the 
error of his ways. 

This undertaking calls for self denial of the 
highest and holiest character. He who engages in 
it must, at the very outset, dismiss every wish to 
stipulate for any thing but the mere favour of God. 
His first act is a voluntary exile from all that a 
refined education loves ; and every other act must 
be in unison with this. The salvation of the hea- 
then is the object for which he sacrifices, and is 
willing to sacrifice, every thing that the heart clings 
to on earth. For this object he would live; for 
this he would die ; nay, he would live any where, 
and die any how, if so be he might rescue one soul 
from everlasting wo. 

Hence you see that this undertaking requires 
courage. It is not that courage which, wrought up 
by the stimulus of popular applause, can rush now 
and then upon the cannon's mouth ; it is that 
which alone and unapplauded will, year after year, 
look death every moment in the face, and never 
shrink from its purpose. It is a principle which 
will f* make a man intrepidly dare every thing 
which can attack or oppose him within the whole 
sphere of mortality, retain his purpose unshaken 
amidst the ruins of the world, and press toward 



25 



his object while death is impending over him."* 
Such was the spirit which spake by the mouth of 
an Apostle when he said, And now I go bound in 
the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things 
which shal befal me there ; save that the Holy 
Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds 
and afflictions abide me. Yet none of these things 
move me ; neither count I my life dear unto myself, 
so that I may finish my course with joy, and the 
ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus. 

But above all, the missionary undertaking requires 
faith, in its holiest and sublimest exercise. And 
let it not be supposed that we speak at random 
when we mention the sublimity of faith. " What- 
ever," says the British moralist, " withdraws us 
from the power of the senses ; whatever makes the 
past, the distant, or the future predominate over the 
present, advances us in the dignity of thinking 
beings. 7 '! And when we speak of faith, we refer 
to a principle which gives substance to things 
hoped for, and evidence to things not seen ; which, 
bending her keen glance on the eternal weight of 
glory, makes it a constant motive to holy enter- 
prize ; which, fixing her eagle eye upon the infinite 
of future, makes it bear right well upon tho pur- 
poses of to-day ; a principle which enables a poor 
feeble tenant of the dust to take strong hold upon 

* ro,t er- t Tour to the Hcbridci. Iona. 

4 



26 



the perfections of Jehovaji ; and fastening his hopes 
to the very throne of the Eternal, " bid earth roll, 
nor feel its idle whirl." It is this principle which 
is the unfailing support of the missionary through 
the long years of his toilsome pilgrimage ; and 
when he is compared with the heroes of this world, 
it is peculiar to him. By as much then as the 
Christian enterprise calls into being this one prin- 
ciple, the noblest that can attach to the character 
of a creature, by so much does its execution surpass 
in sublimity every other. 

3d. Let us consider the means by which this 

MORAL EEVOLUTION IS TO BE EFFECTED. It is, in 

a word, by the preaching of Jesus Christ and him 
crucified. It is by going forth and telling the lost 
children of men, that God so loved the world, that 
he gave his only begotten Son to die for them ; and 
by all the eloquence of such an appeal, to entreat 
them for Christ's sake to be reconciled unto God. 
This is the lever by which we believe the moral 
universe is to be raised ; this is the instrument by 
which a sinful world is to be regenerated. 

And consider the commanding simplicity of 
this means, devised by Omniscience to effect a pur- 
pose so glorious. This world is to be restored to 
more than it lost by the fall, by the simple annun- 
ciation of the love of God in Christ Jesus. Here 
we behold means apparently the weakest, employed 



27 



to effect the most magnificent of purposes. And 
how plainly does this bespeak the agency of the 
omnipotent God. The means which effect his 
greatest purposes in the kingdom of nature, are 
simple and unostentatious ; while those which man 
employs are complicated and tumultuous. How 
many intellects are tasked, how many hands are 
wearied, how many arts exhausted in preparing for 
the event of a single battle ; and how great is the 
tumult of the moment of decision. In all this, man 
only imitates the inferior agents of nature. The 
autumnal tempest, whose sphere of action is limited 
to a little spot upon our little world, comes forth 
attended by the roar of thunder and the flash of 
lightning ; whilst the attraction of gravitation, that 
stupendous force which binds together the mighty 
masses of the material universe, acts silently. 
In the sublimest of natural trausactions, the greatest 
result is ascribed to the simplest, the most unique 
of laws. " He spake and it was done ; he com- 
manded and it stood fast." 

Contemplate the benevolence of these means. 
In practice, the precepts of the gospel may be sum- 
med up in the single command, " Thou shalt love 
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy 
neighbor as thyself/' We expect to teach one 
man obedience to this command, and that he will 
feel obliged to teach his neighbor, who will feel 



28 

obliged to teach others, who are again to become 
teachers, until the whole world shall be peopled with 
one family of brethren. Animosity is to done away 
by inculcating universally the obligation of love. In 
this manner we expect to teach rulers justice, and 
subjects submission ; to open the heart of the miser, 
and unloose the grasp of the oppressor. It is thus 
that we expect the time to be hastened onward 
when men shall beat their swords into ploughshares, 
and their spears into pruning hooks ; when nation 
shall no more lift up sword against nation, nei- 
ther shall they learn war any more. 

With this process, compare the means by which 
men, on the principles of this world, effect a melio- 
ration in the condition of their species. Their 
almost universal agent is, threatened or inflicted 
misery. And from the nature of the case, it cannot 
be otherwise. Without altering the disposition of 
the heart, they only attempt to control its exercise. 
And they must control it by showing their power 
to make the indulgence of that disposition the 
source of more misery than happiness. Hence 
when men confer a benefit upon a portion of their 
brethren, it is generally preceded by a protracted 
struggle to decide which can inflict most, or which 
can suffer longest. Hence the arm of the patriot 
is generally and of necessity bathed in blood. 
Hence with the shouts of victory from the nation 



29 



he has delivered, there arises also the sigh of the 
widow, and the weeping of the orphan. Man pro- 
duces good by the apprehension or the infliction of 
evil. The gospel produces good by the universal 
diffusion of the principles of benevolence. In the 
former case, one party must generally suffer ; in the 
latter, all parties are certainly more happy. The 
one, like the mountain torrent, may fertilize now 
and then a valley beneath, but not until it has 
wildly swept away the forest above, and disfigured 
the lovely landscape with many an unseemly scar. 
Not so the other ; 

u It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 
Upon the place beneath ; it is twice bless'd, 
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes." 

Consider the efficacy of these means. The rea- 
sons which teach us to rely upon them with confi- 
dence may be thus briefly stated. 

1. We see that all which is really terrific in the 
misery of man results from the disease of his moral 
nature. If this can be healed, man may be restored 
to happiness. Now the gospel of Jesus Christ is 
the remedy devised by Omuiscience specifically for 
tliis purpose, and therefore we do certainly know 
that it will inevitably succeed. 

2. It is easy to be seen, that the universal obedi- 
ence to the command, Thou shalt love the Lord thy 



30 



God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thy- 
self, would make this world a heaven. But noth- 
ing other than the gospel of Christ can persuade 
men to this obedience. Reason cannot do it ; phi- 
losophy cannot do it; civilization cannot do it. The 
cross of Christ alone has power to bend the stub- 
born will to obedience, and melt the frozen heart to 
love. For, said one who had experienced its 
power, the love of Christ constraineth us, because 
we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were 
all dead ; and that he died that they which live 
should not live to themselves, but unto Him who 
had died for them, and risen again. 

3. The preaching of the cross of Christ is a 
remedy for the miseries of the fall which has been 
tested by the experience of eighteen hundred years, 
and has never in a single instance failed. Its effi- 
cacy has been proved by human beings of all ages, 
from the lisping infant to the grey headed sinner. 
All climates have witnessed its power. From 
the ice-bound cliffs of Greenland to the banks of 
the voluptuous Ganges, the simple story of Christ 
crucified, has turned men from darkness to light, 
and from the power of Satan unto God. Its effect 
has been the same with men of the most dissimilar 
conditions ; from the abandoned inhabitant of 
Newgate, to the dweller in the palaces of kings. 
It has been equally sovereign amidst the scattered 



31 



inhabitants of the forest and the crowded popula- 
tion of the densest metropolis. Every where and 
at all times it has been the power of God unto sal- 
vation to every one that believeth. 

And lastly, we know from the word of the liv- 
ing God, that it shall be successful until this whole 
world has been redeemed from the effects of man's 
first disobedience. For, saith Jehovah, As truly 
as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glo- 
ry of the Lord. Ask of me, saith he to his Son, 
and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheri- 
tance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy 
possession. In the Revelation which he gave to 
his servant John of things which should shortly 
come to pass ; I heard, said the apostle, great 
voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this 
world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and 
of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. 
Here then is our unwavering ground of confidence. 
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but one jot or 
one tittle shall in no wise pass from the word of 
God until all be fulfilled. Such, then, are the 
means on which we rely for the accomplishment of 
our object, and such the grounds upon which we 
rest our confidence of success. 

And now, my hearers, deliberately consider the 
nature of the missionary enterprise. Reflect upon 
the dignity of its object; the high moral and intel- 



32 



lectual powers which are to be called forth in its 
execution ; the simplicity, benevolence, and efficacy 
of the means by which all this is to be achieved, 
and we ask you, Does not every other enterprise 
to which man ever put forth his strength dwindle 
into insignificance, before that of preaching Christ 
crucified to a lost and perishing world ? 

Engaged in such an object, and supported by 
such hopes, you may well suppose we can very 
well bear the contempt of those who would point 
at us the finger of scorn. It is written, that in the 
last days there shall be scoffers. We regret that 
it should be so. We regret that men should op- 
pose an enterprise of which the chief object is, to 
turn sinners unto holiness. We will pity them, 
and we will pray for them. For we consider their 
situation far other than enviable. We recollect 
that it was once said by the Divine Missionary to 
the first band which he commissioned, He that de- 
spiseth you despiseth me, and he that despiseth me 
despiseth him that sent me. So that this very 
contempt may at last involve them in a controver- 
sy infinitely more serious than they at present an- 
ticipate. The re viler of missions, and the mission- 
ary of the cross must both stand before the judg - 
ment seat of him who said, Go ye into all the 
world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 
It is affecting to think, that whilst the one, sur- 



33 

rounded by the nation, who through his instrumen- 
tality have been rescued from everlasting death, 
shall receive the plaudit, Well doue, good and 
faithful servant ; the other may be numbered with 
those despisers who wonder and perish. O that 
they might know, even in this their day, the things 
which belong to their peace, before they are hidden 
from their eyes ! 

You can also easily perceive how it is that we 
are not soon disheartened by those who tell us 
of the difficulties, nay, the hopelessness of our 
undertaking. They may point us to countries 
once the seat of the church, now overspread with 
Mahometan delusion ; or, bidding us look at na- 
tions, who once believed as we do, now contend- 
ing for what we consider fatal error, they may 
assure us that our cause is declining. To all this 
we have two answers. First, the assumption that our 
cause is declining is utterly gratuitous. We think 
it not difficult to prove, that the distinctive princi- 
ples we so much venerate, never swayed so power- 
ful an influence over the destinies of the human 
race as at this very moment. Point us to those 
nations of the earth to whom moral and intellectual 
cultivation, inexhaustable resources, progress in 
arts, and sagacity iu council, have assigned the first 
rank in political importance, and you point us to 
5 



34 



nations whose religious opinions are most closely 
allied to those we cherish. Besides, when was 
there a period since the days of the apostles, in 
which so many converts have been made to these 
principles as have been made, both from Christian 
and Pagan nations, within the last five and twenty 
years ? Never did the people of the saints of the 
Most High look so much like going forth in se- 
rious earnest to take possession of the kingdom 
and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom 
under the whole heaven, as at this very day. 
We see, then, nothing in the signs of the times 
which forebodes a failure, but every thing which 
promises that our undertaking will prosper. But 
secondly, suppose the cause did seem declining; 
we should see no reason to relax our exertions, 
for Jesus Christ has said, Preach the gospel to 
every creature. Appearances, whether prosperous 
or adverse, alter not the obligation to obey a posi- 
tive command of Almighty God. 

Again, suppose all that is affirmed were true. If it 
must be, let it be. Let the dark cloud of infidelity 
overspread Europe, cross the ocean, and cover our 
own beloved land. Let nation after nation swerve 
from the faith. Let iniquity abound, and the love 
of many wax cold, even until there is on the face 
of this earth but one pure church of our Lord and 
Saviour, Jesus Christ. All we ask is, that We 



35 



may be members of that one church. God grant 
that we may throw ourselves into this Thermopylse 
of the moral universe. 

But even then, we should have no fear that the 
church of God would be exterminated. We would 
call to remembrance the years of the right hand 
of the Most High. "We would recollect there was 
once a time, when the whole church of Christ not 
only could be, but actually was, gathered with one 
accord in one place. It was then that that place 
was shaken as Avith a rushing mighty wind, and 
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. That 
same day, three thousand were added to the Lord. 
Soon, we hear, they have filled Jerusalem with their 
doctrine. The church has commenced her march. 
Samaria has with one accord believed the gospel. 
Antioch has become obedient to the faith. The 
name of Christ has been proclaimed throughout 
Asia Minor. The temples of the gods, as though 
smitten by an invisible hand, are deserted. The 
citizens of Ephesus cry out in despair, Great is 
Diana of the Ephesians. Licentious Corinth is 
purified by the preaching of Christ crucified. Per- 
secution puts forth her arm to arrest the spreading 
" superstition.'' But the progress of the faith can- 
not be stayed. The church of God advances un- 
hurt amidst racks and dungeons, persecutions and 
death ; nay, 11 smiles at the drawn dagger, and 



36 



defies its point." She has entered Italy, and 
appears before the walls of the eternal city. Idol- 
atry falls prostrate at her approach. Her ensign 
floats in triumph over the capitol. She has placed 
on her brow the diadem of the Caesars ! 

After having witnessed such successes, and under 
such circumstances, we are not to be moved by dis- 
couragements. To all of them we answer, Our 
Field is the World. The more arduous the un- 
dertaking, the greater will be the glory. And that 
glory will be ours ; for God Almighty is with us. 

This undertaking the Son of God came down 
from heaven to commence, and in commencing 
it, he laid down his life. To us has he granted 
the high privilege of carrying it forward. The 
legacy which he left us, as he was ascending to his 
Father and our Father, to his God and our God, 
was, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gos- 
pel to every creature ; and, lo, I am with you al- 
ways, even unto the end of the world. With such 
an object before us, under such a Leader, and sup- 
ported by such promises, other motives to exertion 
are unnecessary. Each one of you will anxiously 
inquire, how he may become a co-worker with 
the Son of God, in the glorious design of rescuing 
a world from the miseries of the fall ? 

Blessed be God, this is a work in which every 
one of us is permitted to do something. None so 



37 



poor, none so weak, none so insignificant, but a 
place of action is assigned him, and the cause ex- 
pects every man to do his duty. We answer, then, 

1. You may assist in it by your prayers. After 
all that we have said about means, we know that 
every thing will be in vain without the influences 
of the Holy Spirit. Paul may plant, and Apollo9 
water, it is God who giveth the increase. And these 
influences are promised, and promised alone in 
answer to prayer. Ye then who love the Lord, 
keep not silence, and give him no rest, until he 
establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the 
whole earth. 

2. You may assist by your personal exertions. 
This cause requires a vigorous, persevering, uni- 
versal and systematic effort. It requires that a 
spirit should pervade every one of us, which 
shall prompt him to ask himself every morning, 
What can I do for Christ to-day? and which 
should make him feel humbled and ashamed, if 
at evening, he were obliged to confess he had done 
nothing. Each one of us is as much obligated as 
the missionaries themselves, to do all in his power 
to advance the common cause of Christianity. We, 
equally with them, have embraced that gospel, of 
which the fundamental principle is, none of us 
livcth to himself. And not only is every one 
bound to exert himself to the uttermost, the same 



38 



obligation rests upon us so to direct our exer- 
tions, that each of them may produce the greatest 
effect. Each one of us may influence others to 
embark in the undertaking. Each one whom we 
have influenced, may be induced to enlist that circle 
of which he is the centre, until a self-extending 
system of intense and reverberated action shall 
embody into one invincible phalanx, " the sacra- 
mental host of God's elect." Awake, then, brethren, 
from your slumbers. Seek first the kingdom of 
God and his righteousness. And recollect that 
what you would do, must be done quickly. The 
day is far spent ; the night is at hand. Whatsoever 
thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might ; for 
there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor 
wisdom in the grave whither thou goest. 

3. You may assist by your pecuniary contribu- 
tions. An opportunity of this kind will be pre- 
sented this evening. And here, I trust, it is unnec- 
essary to say that in such a cause we consider it 
a privilege to give. How so worthily can you ap- 
propriate a portion of that substance which Provi- 
dence has given you, as in sending to your fellow 
men, who sit in the region and shadow of death, 
a knowledge of the God who made them, and of 
Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. "We pray you, 
so use the mammon of unrighteousness, that when 
ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting hab~ 



39 



itations. But I doubt not you already burn with 
desire to testify your love io the crucified Re- 
deemer. Enthroned in the high and holy place, 
He looks down at this moment upon the heart of 
every one of us, and will accept of your offering 
though it be but the widow's mite, if it be given 
with the widow's feeling. In the last day of 
solemn account, lie will acknowledge it before an 
assembled universe, saying, In as much as ye did 
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye did 
it unto me. 

May God cf his grace enable us so to act, that 
on that day we may meet with joy the record of 
the doings of this evening ; and to his name shall 
be the glory in Christ. Amen. 



